Cool Curries for cold weekends

Tamatiestraat Cooking School in Stellenbosch shares our passion for food and wine and leading up to winter, we will be sharing a few of their amazing curry recipes to enjoy with our wines.

Reinée Terreblanche-Brand of Tamatiestraat has themed her curries as Cool Curries and explains: “I wanted to emphasize the fact that curries should be flavoursome and not necessarily hot. In essence, it is all about the complex layering of flavours.”

According to Reinée there are two very important things to keep in mind when cooking your own curry:

1. Start from scratch with all your elements. In this way you can manage the spices, the flavour and the hotness and you can adjust accordingly.

2. If time is your enemy and you have to purchase some pre-made ingredients, get pastes rather than prepared curry sauces. Pastes are still pure spices to which you can add coconut milk or stock.

Try this delicious recipe for Chicken Korma and serve it with our 2015 Lookout Semi-Sweet. The fruitiness of the Chenin Blanc and floral notes of the Muscat will pair beautifully with the spiciness of the Chicken Korma.

Tamatiestraat’s Chicken Korma

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken breasts or thighs (approximately 8 breasts)

¼ cup oil/ghee (to fry chicken)

1/2 cup chicken stock (plus more to thin the sauce later if needed)

1 onion, minced

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup half and half

1 cup Greek/double thick yoghurt

½ cup cashews

1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

½ cup chopped fresh coriander

Marinade:

2 tsp finely chopped ginger

4 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 cup double thick yoghurt

Juice of 1 lemon

Curry paste:

¼ cup oil

½ cup cashews

2 tsp Garam masala

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp black peppercorns

½ tsp fenugreek seeds

½ teaspoon cumin

1 Tbsp ghee (to fry spices)

Instructions:

Cube the chicken breasts. Mix the marinade and massage into the chicken. Set aside while prepping the rest of the recipe.

Puree the ingredients for the curry paste in a food processor until smooth. Fry in a pan with a tablespoon of ghee for 1-2 minutes and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a large pot/pan over a medium heat. Sauté onions for 3 minutes. Add the chicken and the tomato paste. Sauté until fragrant and browned.

Add the fried spices, honey, stock and yogurt together. Pour over chicken and stir through. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add extra water or chicken broth to the sauce until you reach the desired consistency.

Add salt to taste.

Sprinkle with cashews and freshly chopped coriander.

Serve with basmati rice, naan or roti’s and a refreshing glass of our 2015 Lookout Semi-Sweet!